Adeola wins British Book Award’s illustrator of the year

An award-winning British-Nigerian children’s book illustrator, author and visual development artist Dapo Adeola has been declared winner of the Book of the Year – Children’s Illustrated category of the British Book Awards 2022. Dapo, who collected The Nibbies for ‘Hey You’ expressed his gratitude to all the readers, “A whole me and my non-connecting facial […]

An award-winning British-Nigerian children’s book illustrator, author and visual development artist Dapo Adeola has been declared winner of the Book of the Year – Children’s Illustrated category of the British Book Awards 2022.

Dapo, who collected The Nibbies for ‘Hey You’ expressed his gratitude to all the readers, “A whole me and my non-connecting facial hairs won Illustrator of the year you know.  Thank you to my agent and the authors, editors, designers and publicists I’ve worked with so far. To all the readers and to all of you that support my endeavours. I’m proper, grateful,” he said. 

The winners of the British Book Awards 2022, also known as The Nibbies, were announced in a ceremony held in London but streamed live.

The British Book Awards or Nibbies were founded by Fred Newman, the founder, editor and publisher of Publishing News who ran them from 1990–2009. They were then acquired by Agile Marketing who renamed it the National Book Awards. In 2017, the award was acquired by The Bookseller who reverted it to the original British Book Awards or The Nibbies. In 2020, Bernardine Evaristo, Candice Carty-Williams, and Oyinkan Braithwaite were among the winners while David Olusoga was the sole winner in 2021.

Like in previous years, the awards for 2022 were in the categories of fiction, fiction debut, nonfiction lifestyle, nonfiction narrative, children’s fiction, children’s nonfiction, children’s illustrated, discover, crime and thriller, page-turner, audiobook: fiction, and audiobook: nonfiction. The shortlists were announced on March 25 before the winner was revealed at the ceremony at Grosvenor House in London.

Writers of African descent who won on the night are: Fiction Debut: Caleb Azumah Nelson, ‘Open Water’ (Penguin General, Viking); Children’s Nonfiction: Marcus Rashford with Carl Anka, ‘You are a Champion’ (Macmillan Children’s Books); and Discover: Jade LB, Keisha ‘the Sket’ (#MerkyBooks).